Cork to Kenmare

Blarney Castle
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Leaving Cork we headed to Blarney Castle to join the queues of American tourists to check out the castle and the stone.  Blarney was a nice spot, but very much a tourist trap! Neither Jon or I kissed the stone, who knew what birds had been sitting near it!!!

Next stop was Cobn, a very pretty seaside harbour town near Cork, we visited the museum there as it had a very good exhibit on the famine and resulting emigration of millions, many of whom departed on their journey from Cobn.  It also had a good exhibit on the Titanic which also set sail from Cobn.

Alan Partridge, the third travel companion

Blarney Castle
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We continued to drive along the coast as much as possible and the weather was perfect and the scenery lovely, the green of Ireland really is like no other!  One town we passed through, skibereen, was a highlight for Jon as it was mentioned in a British comedy 'Alan partridge'... i was surprised we didn't pull over for a photo....

We eventually headed inland and through mostly luck (rather than completely incorrect maps) found a stone circle of 17 standing stones and wandered around all alone..

Stone circle near Glengariff
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The scenery soon changed and we found ourselves driving from Glengarriff to Kenmare through a wide vast valley with mountains covered in brown scrub and tunnels carved crudely through the rock for the road.  We stayed the night in Kenmare in a very sweet B&B in an old Georgian house and just enjoyed being in a small Irish town.